After having studied Physics at Scott Christian College and Journalism at the Asian College of Journalism, Aloysius now covers civic issues, urban planning and development for The Hindu in Chennai. Fo...
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The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board will soon commence work on a GIS-based slum Management Information System (MIS).

It obtained 1-metre resolution satellite imagery of the city's topography from the National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, last week for the preparation of the system.

The MIS would be in place in four months, TNSCB officials said.

The TNSCB has already started socio-economic survey and biometric identification of households in slums in all 10 zones of the Chennai Corporation last December as part of the Rajiv Awas Yojana. The work, which was suspended in view of the model code of conduct, would resume next week, the officials said.

The data collected in the socio-economic survey would be integrated in the slum MIS.

The system would be of help in examining basic infrastructure in all slum localities at the click of a mouse. Micro details on roads, sewer, power and water supply would be available with the centralised system. The data would be used for preparation of a development chart for every slum.

An estimated 3.2 lakh households in Chennai and its suburbs would be covered under the slum MIS project in Chennai and its suburbs. The project work in the suburbs would be taken up later.

A 20-digit identity number would be given to each household in the slums. The TNSCB would make a decision on in-situ development or relocation of the slums after completion of the work in the city limits in four months. The total number of slums to be screened in the city by the TNSCB is 1,580.

Socio-economic survey of 71,000 households in slums in Adyar, Kodambakkam and Ayanavaram zones of the Chennai Corporation has been completed so far. A total of 10,329 households have been covered in biometric identification till March.